


came to peace with my path (got me off track)

by theriveroflight



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Apologies, Gap Filler, Male-Female Friendship, Minor Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Minor Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Polyamory, Volume 7 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27650065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: Takes place sometime during that montage thingy in Volume 7.Jaune comes up to Weiss one day in the cafeteria.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Weiss Schnee/Yang Xiao Long, Everyone & Everyone, Jaune Arc & Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc/Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Ariana Grande's "Safety Net."
> 
> This was supposed to be a fluffy little one shot in which Weiss and Jaune conspire to set the other up with their respective couple (Bumbleby/Renora) because I wanted platonic wk content. And then Weiss said "I have internalized polyamphobia"...so sorry?
> 
> CW: above, arguing, some awkwardness
> 
> Next chapter will be the Jaune & Weiss reconciliation.

“So,” Jaune says, going up to her as she slowly eats her dinner, “what’s it like?”

“What’s what like?” Weiss answers. She doesn’t know what Jaune is asking about, but the fact that Jaune is asking  _ her  _ is scary. She knows he got over her (thank goodness for that) and that he was with Pyrrha, briefly, which makes her a little jealous but also she knows that Pyrrha never would have gone with Weiss. 

“Being— liking someone who’s with someone else.”

Weiss hopes it isn’t Blake or Yang. Or both of them. Who knows.

“What makes you think I’d relate to your scenario?” she answers. “I’m not…”

“I just…needed someone to talk to.”

“You’re closer with Ruby, yeah?”

Jaune nods, then shakes his head. “She doesn’t get romance.”

And yeah, that’s a fair assessment of Ruby. So she kind of understands.

“Blake and Yang are on the verge of being together, Ren and Nora are together. So I’m the only other single person here that doesn’t want to be.”

“Ren and Nora…” Jaune sighs. “I don’t know how I can help them anymore.”

“It’s one of them for you, isn’t it?” Weiss sighs. She isn’t equipped to deal with this on the other end of it.

She’s grateful that Jaune isn’t trying to ask her out in increasingly ridiculous ways — really. That was a terrible experience.

“I mean, it’s Blake or Yang for you, isn’t it?” He parrots her words back at her. It isn’t ‘or’ for Weiss, but  _ ‘and.’  _

“Stop talking so loud, I don’t want any of them to hear. Don’t you know better?”

Jaune looks around. They’re not the  _ only  _ ones in the cafeteria, but they’re fairly far away. “They won’t hear.” 

“Someone else might.” But even as Weiss looks around, she can’t see anyone that’s paying enough attention to them to hear.

“And even considering if they  _ could  _ hear us…I want them to.”

_ “Them?”  _ Weiss says. She never thought she’d meet anyone like her. Much less Jaune Arc, hopelessly devoted to Pyrrha since her death. Well, there are always people that can surprise her. “You have to face it — we’re the ones outside the norm. They…they have each other. They’re not going to just…love another person. They’re  _ normal  _ and have  _ enough  _ in their hearts with each other. They don’t  _ want  _ another person.”

“What makes you think that you can speak for them?” Jaune yells. “And what makes you think you can project all your  _ insecurities  _ on  _ me!”  _ People look over at them.

Weiss just stares at him in disbelief. Jaune walks away.

* * *

“What happened with you and Jaune?” Ruby asks. “You’re both my friends, I don’t want to see anything bad happen to either of you.”

“It’s…” Weiss sighs. “I thought I had gotten better about assuming things about other people.”

“We all have things we need to work on,” Ruby replies. “It’s okay. I think you have time to apologize.”

“I know. I know it needs to happen.” Weiss sighs. “I just want to let him have some space first. I know I said the wrong thing to him.”

“What’d you say?”

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it was wrong. That I was wrong.”

“You know, the first day I met you, I never thought you’d be saying that.” Ruby smiles. “It’s okay to make mistakes, Weiss. You just have to keep moving forward from them.”

* * *

She knocks softly at the door. “Jaune?”

Oscar answers the door to see her. “I wanted to...apologize to him.”

“He’s with Ren and Nora right now. They went for a walk.”

“You didn’t go with them?”

“I was going to go to sleep, actually. I’m kind of tired.”

Weiss nods. “I’ll probably be back in the morning. Good night, Oscar.”

“Sleep well, Weiss.”

* * *

Being in the dorms kind of sucks. Their belongings are sparser than they were back when they attended Beacon.

It appeared that bunk beds were standard in Atlas. It’s an experience similar to the one that she had back at Beacon, but she couldn’t fall asleep.

And then she heard some squeaking — someone was shifting on one of the mattresses. It wasn’t the one directly above her, so it was probably Yang. She heard the sound of footsteps coming down the ladder, and then a face peeks through her curtain.

“Come on,” Yang whispers, holding out a hand.

Weiss takes it, unsure of  _ why  _ Yang was doing this.

“What’s happening?” she whispers as they both put on their shoes.

“I’m taking you on a walk, and you’re talking about what happened with Jaune,” Yang answers.

Weiss shushes her, because she doesn’t want to wake up Blake or Ruby. They get out the door before Weiss says anything more.

“What if I don’t  _ want  _ to tell?”

“Ruby says you didn’t tell her. I thought you might want someone you aren’t as…close with.” Yang winks.

“I resent the implication,” Weiss retorts. “Jaune wanted to ask me something. And along the way something was revealed, and then…”

“Well, he said something about projecting insecurities. What do you have left to be insecure about, Weiss? It’s okay if you have a crush on my sister, I’m okay with that.”

“Like I said, I resent the implication that you think I like your sister. It’s not your sister. We were talking about...romantic inclinations.”

“What, you ashamed of liking girls? That’s not something to be ashamed of, Weiss.”

“Oh, it’s not that.”

“Is it more than one person?” Weiss almost stops in her tracks at that, but she manages to resist. She suspects that she still gave some kind of physical sign.

“That’s chill too,” Yang says, shrugging. “My dad can too. Ruby and I’s mothers were in a relationship with him at the same time. I think it’s perfectly fine.”

Knowing that Yang’s okay with it as an abstract concept is well and good, but it still doesn’t mean that her crush is requited. 

“Wait, but who are the multiple people that you and Jaune like?” Yang asks, after they continue walking down a bit more.

“I’m not at liberty to disclose that. I have enough decency to not share a secret that someone  _ trusted  _ me with.”

“You kind of inadvertently exposed that Jaune likes multiple people too. I think that counts as exposing a secret that he trusted you with already.”

Weiss glares at Yang. “It’s a matter of respect, really.”

“I get it. But I don’t like being kept in the dark, either. I’m betting that it’s Ren and Nora, and he was asking you and hit a little close to home.”

“That last part is right. I can’t say anything as to the first.”

“I mean, he could like you, but I really don’t think that’s it.” Yang wrinkles her nose. Was that a sign of…jealousy?

That gave Weiss some hope, at least.

“I severely doubt that, too.” Because she  _ knows.  _ Not that she wants to do anything besides preserve the sanctity of the secret — she’s not fond of secrets, but she’d rather keep her friendships than endanger them for the sake of honesty.

“Well, good talk,” Yang forces a smile. “I hope you can sleep now. You tend to toss and turn a lot in your sleep — I knew you were awake because you weren’t moving.”

They open up the door to their room, slip off their shoes, and climb back into bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune gets to say his side of the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woohoo! decided to get back to working on this. have an outline for the remaining 3 chapters already. but even with a plan it might take a while sorry

The walk is very nice. The three of them don’t talk much, but it’s a good walk, and they still manage to get back at a reasonable time to both wake up at sunrise  _ and  _ get a good amount of sleep. He’s been getting a lot of nice sleep as of late — it’s good to have stability, after so much travelling trying to find the end.

He sees that there’s a note for him.

_ Jaune— _

_ Weiss came by earlier, said she wanted to apologize. She’ll probably be back tomorrow but I just wanted to let you know that she came. _

_ Oscar _

Well, that was…a good sign, at least.

What Weiss said earlier still stings a little bit. He hasn’t always been this confident in himself — it took time for him to accept his love for them, the road and the fact that it was Ren and Nora (and he had never seen two people more devoted to each other) helping him in that process. 

He thinks that perhaps it was hopeless.

And he’s noticed how Weiss acts around Blake and Yang. So, he thought that by talking to her, it would be okay. That it would all be fine. That he had someone to connect with.

It took him a long time to accept that part of himself, yet Weiss’s comments still manage to hit his insecurities around himself.

He might not be alone, but now he knows that she doesn’t want to talk to him about it. She doesn’t want solidarity with him. And that might be because of their past, but they’ve managed to become friends between it all, what does she has to be hung up about?

He knows he isn’t alone anymore — but at what cost?

At least Ren and Nora didn’t try to talk to him about it on their walk. He doesn’t want them especially to talk to him about what Weiss said.

They just…understand him. And that’s part of why he loves them. His team’s always understood him better than anyone else.

* * *

Ren and Nora go on a mission by themselves to the wall, Blake and Yang stick together as usual and head to the mines, Ruby goes with Penny, Oscar is training with Ironwood (that makes him a little nervous, but he knows Oscar can hold his own), and so that leaves the two of them together.

Weiss immediately pulls him aside. “I’m…sorry. I acted improperly, and I know that hurt you.”

“Apology accepted.” He resists shrugging it off, because it still isn’t that easy. “I know you’re still figuring things out. And I know how hard that is.”

“I just wish I could choose. That would make it…easier, I guess.”

“At least they’re happy with each other.”

She takes a shaky breath. “I’m okay with being the one left out.” It sounds like she’s trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

“Want to try again?” He offers her a smile. “Come on, killing some Grimm should help you feel better.”

A little fighting always does some good for catharsis.

“Let’s go,” she declares, smiling back at him. They end up on the same truck as Blake and Yang, going towards the mine — Blake and Yang are going in, and the two of them are protecting the outside.

Weiss ends up chatting with Blake and Yang more than him, and that’s fine, because on the inside he’s thinking about how he can help her with them, whether she chooses to get over them or try to get together with them.

Yang seems a little more distant from the conversation than Blake and Weiss, who get caught up in talking about dust mining, of all things. Jaune thinks that means something, but he isn’t close enough to them to quite tell  _ what  _ exactly it means.

* * *

He’s exhausted when they get back from the mines. It’s nighttime, but isn’t overly late — winter in Solitas means that it gets dark early in the day, and he’s not really used to it because he’s always lived in Vale.

Ren and Oscar finished eating together, so that leaves him and Nora still finishing their food in the cafeteria.

“I know we don’t talk quite as often,” Nora whispers, “but I wanted you to know that if you need to talk, I’m here.”

“I’m not sure I need to talk about it anymore. Weiss apologized to me, and we had a fun time out.”

“If you…like her, that’s fine. We’ll support you, whatever your choice is.” Why does Nora sound  _ sad  _ at that prospect?

He isn’t completely certain of their support of who he really likes, though.

“What? I don’t—she’s not the one that I like.” He shakes his head. “Not anymore. Hasn’t been for a long time.”

Nora shrugs. “Sometimes things change, or get revived. But that means…Pyrrha?”

“She’s still in my heart.” Jaune takes a deep breath. “But sometimes, you have to know when to carry on. Move forward. She would have wanted me to, I think.”

“I’m glad you’ve found someone else.”

“Some _ ones  _ else.” And that doesn’t sound like proper words, but it’s for the sake of correction, so he can’t find himself caring.

“That’s…a thing?”

“Yeah.” He laughs. “Weiss seemed to struggle with that too.”

Realization dawns on Nora’s face. “Ohhhhhh.” And Jaune can’t help but smile at her, open with realization. “So that’s what it was about.”

“Can you fault me for wanting someone to talk to?” he jokes.

“You could have come to us,” Nora says. “Even if I don’t quite get it yet, I’m still willing to listen.”

“I’m not sure you can help me out right now,” he says. “I got out everything I need. But if I do need to talk, I’ll let you know, yeah? You’re my teammates, you deserve to be aware.”

She nods. They hug, and it still feels weird because he’s taller than her by…quite a bit, but nice.

“I won’t tell, okay?”

“It’s okay if you do.”

“It’s yours to tell. I don’t want to take that from you.”

“Okay.” He goes to brush the remainder of his tray into the garbage, but Nora takes it from him, a wordless offer to eat the rest of it.

“I’ll see you back at our room, okay?”

“Of course,” she answers, already starting to eat.

**Author's Note:**

> find me somewhere else /  
> tumblr: alto-tenure (main) or beunforgotten (writing)  
> twitter: @riverofliight (inactive!)


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